Apple is emailing Boot Camp Beta users a message that says Boot Camp in Tiger will expire at the end of next month:

With the introduction of Leopard, the Boot Camp Beta program has ended. The Boot Camp Beta software will expire on December 31, and Apple won't offer further updates of Boot Camp Beta for Mac OS X Tiger.

If you'd like to continue using Boot Camp, Apple invites you to upgrade to Mac OS X Leopard.

The license to use Boot Camp in Tiger expired on October 26, the day that Leopard shipped. This message seems to imply that the software itself will expire or cease to function.

It is not known if Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion will still be able to access the Boot Camp Windows partition after this date.

For more on Boot Camp, see our Boot Camp in Leopard and Boot Camp in Tiger Tips and Reports pages.

Benn Kovco verified a suggestion from another reader for getting Leopard 10.5.1 to bind to Active Directory:

I've managed to get solid, functional AD connectivity after experiencing all of the issues describe in various forums. I finally got it to work by following Toni Weurlander's suggestion at MacWindows.

This worked for me, taking care NOT to even attempt to bind AD while still on 10.5.0. I posted more at the Apple Discussion forums.

Ted August verified a previously reported fix for Cisco VPN client problems in Leopard:

I upgraded from 10.4.10 to 10.5, and, I had issues with both the Cisco VPN and Shimo after upgrading. However, re-installing both applications resolved all issues. In addition, Cisco has released a newer version of its VPN software. I've found this new version speeds up the connection process in Leopard.

Maksym Kortunov solved his problem with getting a virtual private network connection within Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion:

I just installed the most recent build version of Parallels [Build 5160] and it works now! I haven't tried reinstalling Fusion.

Last week, another reader suggested changing a security setting in Parallels.

Andreas Gast took our advice on how to replace the libssl.0.9.dylib and libcrypt.0.9.dylb files to fix the Leopard VPN bug, and it fixed VPN for him. He sent us some additional information on the procedure.

Thanks for the details needed for me to successfully correct Leopard's VPN ills. In addition to replacing the two files with their Tiger (Intel) versions I needed a few additional steps to get it to work. I am now successfully reconnected into my corporate VPN network.

Here is what I did...

Emily Herndon notes that the Prosoft Engineering NetWare client doesn't work in Leopard:

I just updated my loaner iBook G4 (for work) to Leopard this weekend without realizing that Netware Client for Mac isn't compatible. So now I can't access the servers that I need to, and I hear that there is no fix from Prosoft for a while.

RocketStream has released a public beta of RocketStream for Mac OS X, a software-only file transfer acceleration solution that can move files up to 100 times faster than an FTP file transfer. The Mac beta is designed for point-to-point transfer between two computers.

Windows versions of a server and a client were released earlier this year.

The company said that RocketStream also provides file transfer automation features, including synchronization, mirroring, and remote backup. It also features encryption and on-the-fly compression and decompression.

The company said that on a typical 100 Mbps Internet connection, RocketStream can increase TCP/IP network bandwidth utilization from a typical 3 percent to 96 percent. On this type connection, a 10-MB file could be transferred at about 30 times faster than with an FTP connection. The acceleration would be faster an higher-bandwidth connections. On a residential cable modem connection, the acceleration would be about 8-to-10 times that of an FTP file transfer, according to a company spokesperson.

Additionally, while network utilization (and file transfer speed) typically decreases with the distance between the computers, RocketStream retains a high file transfer speed.

The company said that it plans to ship the release version of RocketStream Mac by late December or early January.

Softhing has release Entourage Email Archive X (EEAX) 3.6.0, an update to the Mac OS X software for creating Spotlight-searchable archives of email and attachments received or sent using Microsoft Entourage. The new version adds compatibility with Leopard and Mac OS X 10.4.11, adds compatibility with Intego Virus Barrier, and fixes some bugs.

Group Logic today released ExtremeZ-IP File and Print Server 5.1.1, an update for the AFP servers for Windows. The update provides compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard clients. The update to the high-performance server also adds other enhancements, including Leopard compatibility for the Dashboard widget called Zidget for discovering and accessing print and file servers, as well as improvements to Unicode compatibility.

At its web site, Group Logic lists issues that the update will fix, as well as issues that Apple will need to address in future upgrades to Mac OS X 10.5. Earlier this month Group Logic told us that documented bugs in Leopard are causing at least some of the networking problems that users are seeing.

Group Logic said that ExtremeZ-IP 5.1.1 is the only Windows-based server solution to properly support all Mac OS releases from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X 10.5. (Microsoft has so far not issued a Leopard update for its AFP server, Services for Macintosh.)

The 5.1.1 update is available free to owners of ExtremeZ-IP 5.1 who have an active Maintenance and Support Contract.

Readers have previously reported (here and here) that Leopard erroneously installs PowerPC versions of two files on Intel Macs. Andreas Gast reports having the Leopard's virtual private network problem with Mac OS X 10.5.1. We also answered Gasts question about how to replace the files. Gast said:

I have a new MBP that was running 10.4.11 and my PPTP VPN worked fine. I cloned my Tiger config to a backup drive, then completed a clean install of Leopard (Erase & Install) and applied the 10.5.1 update, ran repair permissions (got the slew of "ACL found but not expected" errors and the SUID ARDAgent error), but no VPN. I need PPTP VPN access for my corporate network.

How do I apply the replacement of the Intel 10.4 libssl.0.9.dylib and libcrypt.0.9.dylb libraries)? I can't seem to navigate to the needed /usr/lib directory on my HD or my Tiger Install Disk.

You can get to the normally invisible /usr/lib directory from the Finder using the Go to Folder command in the Go menu. In the field, type /usr/lib. This will open the Directory as a folder, showing you all of the files.

On the Tiger installation DVD, you can get to /usr/lib directly. Insert the DVD (don't reboot) and double-click to open. Scroll down to the usr folder and double-click to open. Then double click the lib folder. Switch the folder window to list view to find the libssl.0.9.dylib and libcrypt.0.9.dylb files. You can then copy them to the hard drive /usr/lib directory with a simple drag and drop.

Does this work for you? Please let us know.

Irving Kanefsky reports the current beta of VirtualBox, a virtualization environment for running Windows on Mac OS X, doesn't work in Mac OS X 10.5:

VirtualBox Beta 2 ran very well on Tiger. It was fast and very polished for a beta. It of course was incomplete. Now that I upgraded to Leopard, it does not work at all on my MacBook Pro. It seemed to run faster than VMware Fusion and Parallels and probably would be my choice if it could work in Leopard.

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

(For more on VirtualBox, see our VirtualBox Tips and Reports page.)

Last week, Apple posted NVidia graphics drivers for use in Windows running in Boot Camp on Mac models with NVidia graphics hardware, including the MacBook Pro. Apple said that installing the drivers in Windows Vista can fix a problem with a black screen (blank screen), and may fix other video drivers in Windows XP and Vista.

The Apple tech support article describes this is an issue for Boot Camp 2.0, which comes with Leopard, but many MacWindows readers reported this problem with the Boot Camp Beta for Tiger as well as with the Leopard version. We don't yet know if the Windows drivers at the Apple web site will work in Boot Camp 1.4 and earlier, which Apple isn't supporting.

These drivers may provide help with the following of NVidia video problems with Vista and XP in Boot Camp:

• Leopard's Boot Camp still hasn't fixed Vista Cinema Display problem
• Reports of Boot Camp 1.4 update disabling NVidia Vista driver
• Boot Camp screen goes blank during games
• External Display (dual display) problems with Boot Camp

Note that in some instances in the above articles, workarounds are offered.

Also note that an Apple firmware update for certain iMacs fixes Leopard Boot Camp black screen problems.

Our Boot Camp in Tiger and Boot Camp in Leopard pages have reports of video problems and workarounds with other video hardware as well.

After upgrading VMware Fusion to version 1.1, Stephen Keese can no longer get Fusion to launch the virtual machine disk image (.vdmk file) that ran on version 1.0:

I'm running Mac OS X 10.5.1. After updating Fusion to 1.1, I can no longer get it to recognize the Windows XP .vdmk file that 1.0 used to run. The User Guide does not fit the set up procedure and there seems to be no place on the web site to get help or even suggestions on what to do. Haven't seen a solution at the Fusion forums.

Earlier this week, another reader reported that Fusion 1.1 was crashing when running in Leopard.

If you've seen either of these problems please let us know.

Steve Humiston does not have any problems with Fusion 1.1 in Leopard:

I run VMware Fusion 1.1 at in Leopard with 3 different OS's, sometimes with two Windows XP Pro's running at the same time without a problem for many hours. I run the same versions on a Mac Pro, 6 GB, and a MacBook Pro, 2 GB, connected to our domain running many apps within Windows XP Pro without a problem for the full day.

Steve Humiston offered a fix for Cisco VPN client problems in Leopard:

My suggestion for anyone with a Cisco issue is to reinstall the client (making sure it's the latest version AND Intel).

I have had both working since the beginning. After the upgrade to Leopard I did have to reinstall the VPN client as I got the same message but after the reinstall I was fine. At work I must use VPN to connect to various school systems. 10.5.1 did not break it at work or at home.

MacBook Pro and Mac Pro both confirmed working.

If you've tried this suggestion please let us know how it worked for you.

Alin Pilkington offered a workaround for Leopard problems with virtual private network connections in Windows in a virtual machine:

I've seen this problem also in Parallels. I believe this problem arises only after I try to connect from Leopard to the same VPN network that I connect to from XP while running Parallels.

I got around it by changing the Parallel Security Preferences (not Leopard; the Parallels application) to have the minimum security between Windows (I'm running XP by the way) and OS X.

Robin Jackson doesn't have the problem with the SonicWALL Windows VPN client:

SonicWALL seems to be working fine on my version of Parallels (latest Leopard compatible beta) and 10.5.1.

please let us know. if this tip worked for you.

Phil Benware verified a previous reader report about the Juniper virtual private network client in Leopard, but with a caveat:

We've been testing Juniper Release 6.0r2 for about 2 weeks now. It does work with Leopard (10.5 and 10.5.1), and seems to work well, so far. The only problem is that supposedly this not Juniper's official Leopard supported version. What this means, as I've been told by our network admin, is that a later client/firmware patch could break Leopard connectivity.

Brent Blumenstein offered another workaround for the problem of Windows PCs not being able to log into Leopard file sharing. (There is a previoulsy reported workaround here.) Here, Blumenstein is specifically talking about Vista:

On an XP machine I can logon to a Leopard file share and access the shared files without issues using just a Leopard user name, and this is so whether the XP machine is a member of "workgroup" or some other name. But on the Vista machine a weird syntax is required, and this is true whether the Vista machine is a member of "workgroup" or some other work group name.

Here is the Vista solution I found: When logging on to access the Leopard shares from Vista the user name must be in this form:

DOMAIN\username

NOTE: Capitalization of DOMAIN is essential!

I do not think this has anything to do with the work group name. When I default everything in Leopard it shows up as a member of "workgroup" when viewed from the Windows side, so Leopard is apparently set up to use "workgroup" as the default work group name.

The conclusion about naming work groups in peer-to-peer networking that I had come to even before starting to fiddle with Leopard (my first Mac experience BTW) is that being a member of the same named work group has been de-emphasized on the Windows side (if it ever was an issue): I can connect my XP and Vista computers easily whether they are a member of the same named work group or not. I am simply warned in the docs that discovery might take a little longer.

So, where did the DOMAIN token as required when logging on from Vista come from? Is it Leopard requiring this, or is it Vista?

Meanwhile, I am able to access my Leopard files from Vista (and XP) with approximately the same reliability I am able to share files among my Windows computers.

Note that our Leopard Tips and Reports page has a previously reported tip that differs from this one.

If you've tried either of these suggestions please let us know.

Terry Druery from Australia reports this problem with Windows clients and Leopard server:

With Mac OS X 10.4 on our G5 XServe, Windows clients could mount a share with no problems using a logon script on the Active Directory server, Windows 2000. We upgraded to Mac OS X 10.5 and then to 10.5.1 and no go. The same user can connect to Leopard Server from a Mac without issues.

Windows machines give an error message about incorrect password in the text window that presents as the logon script is run. Same setup as before. Server not bound to AD users exactly the same passwords the same. The Windows users can log on IF I give them admin privileges in the Workgroup manager. Understandably I am reluctant to do this.

If you've seen this please let us know.

Neal Jackson offered another workaround for problems mounting Windows shares with Leopard:

I have found that my PC Firewall software allows Leopard unhindered SMB sharing by turning off SMB Relay Attack detection.

I'm no expert but I guess Leopard is using this networking protocol in a primitive manner that could render the network potentially vulnerable to SMB hijacking attack exploits.

If you've tried this suggestion please let us know.

Matt Sielski, like some other readers, noticed that Leopard file sharing worked at first, then it could no longer access Windows shares. When he did get it working, the mounted shares abruptly disconnect:

Shortly after the Leopard upgrade I could easily browse to my Windows 2003 Server shares with the SHARED area in the Finder. Now, a few weeks later, using the SHARED area just shows "Connecting..." when I try to browse my network. I have to mount the shares with Finder's Go > Connect to server > smb://IPADDRESS/sharename. Once I do that...

We've had more reports of copying data to SMB file sharing volumes with Mac OS X 10.5.1.

Glenn Josephsons also sees the problem with writing to volumes via SMB with a USB drive attached to an AirPort base station:

On the same day last week that Apple released its first Leopard update (10.5.1), the company also released what may be the last Tiger update, Mac OS X 10.4.11, for Intel and PowerPC Macs. The update improves reliability when running VMware Fusion for Intel Macs. (A previous reader report described crashing with VMware Fusion on Mac OS X 10.4.11.) The update installs Safari to version 3, the same version shipping with Leopard, and improves some networking features on Intel and PowerPC Macs, including:

• Enables other computers using AFP file sharing and Bonjour to better recognize the Mac's shared volumes
• Fixes a problem with copying files from a Mac OS 9 AFP share to the Tiger Mac
• Improves reliability when trying to authenticate to an AFP share using Kerberos
• Improves compatibility with third-party wireless wide-area network devices (Intel Macs only)

Many readers found the previous release, Mac OS X 10.4.10, had networking problems that previous versions did not. These were slow network access, probably due to DNS issues, as well as problems with AirPort wireless networking.

If you've installed the Mac OS X 10.4.11 update if it fixes any of these problems.

Reader reports VMware Fusion crashing with Leopard

Christopher Ferrante found another workaround to Leopard problems with Windows file sharing:

By turning off IPv6 I was able to see all my Windows PC shares.

Ferrante didn't elaborate, but here's how to do this:

1. Choose Apple > System Preferences, and then click Network.
2. Select the network connection service from the list, and then click Advanced.
3. Click TCP/IP.
4. Click the Configure IPv6 pop-up menu and select Off.

If you've tried this please let us know if it worked for you. Another reader...

David Searles reports that the Leopard file sharing problems are still occurring after the Mac OS X 10.5.1 update:

When I first installed this update and turned File Sharing back on, everything looked to be working. I was psyched! But the next day after a reboot, Windows networking is once again GONE and now turning File Sharing off does NOT bring it back. So until Apple fixes this disaster, I'm stuck without ANY access to my Windows network!

Christopher Ferrante also said that the 10.5.1 update did not fix the problem.

Please note that we have been reporting a variety of different workarounds, though no absolute fixes yet.

Jean Robert Opgenort in The Netherlands reported Leopard problems copying files to Windows drives on both on a network and in a virtual machine. He also said that the 10.5.1 update fixes one problem...

Brad Ong reported that the Mac OS X 10.5.1 updated did not fix Leopard's Active Directory binding problems. Turning off Bonjour, as another reader recommended, also did not help. In his report, Ong describes the procedure he used...

Although we've had several reports of VPN clients not working with Leopard, Christopher Pearce is the first to report that the Cisco VPN Client for Mac OS X doesn't work with the first Leopard release. It does work, however, with the 10.5.1 update:

I could not get the Cisco VPN Client to recognize that my Leopard 10.5.0 Mac Book 2.2 GHz has a network connection. Hence it fails immediately with the message 'Cannot connect to VPN Subsystem'. Tiger has no problem with the VPN Client plus Remote Desktop connection to the Windows server at work.

With 10.5.1, it works!

If you've seen a problem with Leopard and the Cisco VPN Client for Mac OS X please let us know.

Brandon Edling reported that an update to the Juniper virtual private network Mac Client, Network Connect, fixes an incompatibility with Leopard:

This problem is only for Network Connect 5.5. As of 6.0r2, this problem has been fixed. Your VPN Administrator can get an update from Juniper, which will download automatically to the client when it connects and all will be well.

If you've used Network Connect 6.0r2 with Leopard please let us know.

Maksym Kortunov's Leopard virtual private network problems occur not in Mac OS X, but in Windows running in a virtual machine:

I've seen your note about VPN problems in Leopard at the MacWindows Leopard Tips and Reports page. I have a problem with VPN inside VMWare Fusion and Parallels. When I connect VPN in Windows on these virtual machines, it connects and stuck during user name and password checking. After some pause it says that the machine did not respond and do not establish the VPN. The same is in both Fusion and Parallels.

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

An anonymous reader (identified as "Macguitarman") commented on a previous report about Leopard's Mail 3.0 when using with Exchange Server and IMAP. The previous reader said "Leopard Mail now has a box for OWA, but I have not been able to get it working." Macguitarman replied with a review of what works and what doesn't with Mail 3.0 and Exchange...

Apple has released Mac OS X 10.5.1, the first upgrade to the Leopard release of three weeks ago. Apple didn't list fixes for the problems readers have been reporting about file sharing, Active Directory, virtual private networks, or other issues. The closest the Apple web page came was this:

Addresses an issue in which Microsoft Windows shared folders may be read-only when connected via SMB.

One interesting change was with the firewall. Apple had been criticized by security experts because the "Block All" setting did not, in fact, block all connections. In 10.5.1 Apple didn't enable it to block all connections, but changed the name to "Allow Only essential services."

Please let us know if this update fixes any of the problems with Leopard that we've been reporting. (See our Leopard Tips and Reports page.)

Paragon Software Group has released NTFS for Mac OS X (US$30), the first solution to enable Mac OS X to read and write storage media formatted in Microsoft's NTFS file system. Mac OS X provides only read access to NTFS devices, such as external hard drives, but cannot write to NTFS. The version number is "6.0," but this is the first release of the product.

The company describes the product as a driver than enables Mac OS X to access NTFS natively. NTFS for Mac OS X is runs on Intel-powered and Power PC G4 Macs, and requires Mac OS X 10.4.6 or higher.

If you've tried NTFS for Mac OS X please let us know.

We received more problem reports about Leopard's Mail 3.0. Marty Enerson responded to a report earlier this week about Mail 3.0 not being able to connect to Exchange Server:

I run our Exchange Server at work and I cannot connect to it with the new Mail client that comes with Leopard. I was able to with 10.4. Kind of a pain, because I am trying find any way possible to get rid of Entourage. I have been testing Outlook 2003 with Crossover, Parallels, VMware, but ultimately would love to use the Mail program.

William Forrest has a odd problem with IMAP mail:

All of my mail from IMAP accounts is being delivered to one of my junk mailboxes even after turning off junk mail filtering. I've tried to repair permissions etc to no avail. BIG bug.

If you've seen either of these problems please let us know.

Jeff Geerling verified that turning off Bonjour fixed a problem with slow Active Directory connections in Leopard. As with the previous reader, it cause other problems:

Like Leslie Wong (Nov. 7, 2007), I am having problems with how long it takes for a user to log in on either of two Macs after I bound them to our 2003 AD server. I disabled Bonjour by entering the following in the Terminal:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist

I can re-enable Bonjour by replacing 'unload' with 'load' in the above line.

This instantly made logins just as quick as they were in Tiger (10.4.10), but now I can't share printers as easily as I could with Bonjour. I'm also having trouble getting the users' home folders to mount over the network (though I haven't worked on that problem too much).

Two readers sent suggestions for dealing with the problem of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard being unable to bind to Active Directory.

Albert Mowatt offered this setting on the Mac:

Here is something that worked from me. Under ACCOUNTS (on Mac OS X), go to Login Options, then Chose "Allow Network User" to login. I restricted to the assigned user and admins (to control remote and VNC access also) but you can allow all and see if that works.

Also, I noticed that the Realm name/Domain needs to be in uppercase.

(If you try to access the list and only the local users show, you are not correctly bound to Active directory.) I've used this to correct 5 miss logons so far.

Robert Liebsch recommends keeping the password simple in order to bind in Leopard. (A previous reader said the same thing about file sharing in Leopard.) Liebsch said;

One bug I have submitted many times is that certain characters in passwords when bound to AD will cause logon failure. I haven't dedicate the time to finding out which but some of the candidates are . / ! @ | \

I know this because my passwords are pretty secure, but I had to revert to alpha-numbs for password and I was able to log in successfully. I have very strong feelings that this could also be part of the "bad user pass combo" errors when attempting to bind to AD.

My experience this far is 8 laptops, fresh install from netrestore. I then bind the computer to the domain, without problem, then have the to-be-upgraded user log in, then copy the data from the old home directory on the old laptop via target disk mode.

If these suggestions worked for you please let us know.

Corey Klass responded to a previous report about Leopard containing the PowerPC versions of two files, libssl.0.9.dylib and libcrypt.0.9.dylib, even on Intel Macs:

With regard to your note "Workaround for Leopard VPN bug," I had a similar issue with the remote control program OSX2X on my MacBook Pro where the application would immediately quit upon startup. I traced the problem in the Console log back to some kind of version problem with the libssl.0.9.dylib and libcrypt.0.9.dylib libraries. Replacing them with the versions from my back up of Intel 10.4 allowed the program to work properly under 10.5.

VMware yesterday released VMware Fusion 1.1 (US$60, free upgrade), an update to the virtualization software for Mac OS X. The upgrade offers compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and Windows Vista, including support for Vista Boot Camp partitions in VMware Fusion virtual machines. There is also "experimental support" for Windows DirectX 9.0 graphics, though shaders are not yet supported.

This release version of Fusion 1.1 contains the features of the beta and of October's release candidate. These features are listed on our VMware Tips and Reports page.

Yesterday, UNETsystem Inc. of Korea announced products that will integrate Macintosh and Linux system into Microsoft's Network Access Protection (NAP) platform. UNETsystem said it would release Mac OS X and Linux versions of Anyclick for NAP, the company's NAP client, in the third and second quarters of 2008, respectively.

Network Access Protection is a policy enforcement technology built into Windows Vista and the upcoming Windows Server 2008, which Microsoft plans to release in February 2008. NAP is intended to protect networks from "unhealthy" policies by enforcing requirements for clients logon.

(See also this story from eWeek.)

John Holley reports a bug with Leopard's virtual private network software, and a workaround:

For those running into problems with Leopard, on Intel machines, only installing the PowerPC versions of libssl.0.9.dylib and libcrypt.0.9.dylb libraries and hence causes apps that rely on them to fail. You just need to grab the libraries off a 10.4.x [Intel] system e.g. a backup or a 10.4.x install disk, from /usr/lib and replace them on your 10.5.

This had been bugged to Apple during the betas of Leopard but they still shipped it with the PPC only version of the libraries.

If you've tried this workaround please let us know.

A Microsoft spokesperson sent us a statement about a new version of Messenger for Mac, which will be version 7.0:

Office 2008 for Mac will include Messenger for Mac 6.0 the box. Customers today can download this version for free from Microsoft.

The Mac BU just reached a milestone in the development process of the next version, Messenger for Mac 7.0, with the recent launch of a private beta for a select group of enterprise customers in an Office Communication Server 2007 environment who can try out the new Audio / Visual capabilities for business users.

The corporate beta is a noteworthy step towards full A/V functionality as the group continues to work closely with the Windows Live Messenger team to bring Audio / Visual to personal users. We will keep you posted on Messenger for Mac 7.0 progress in the coming months.

We've had one suggestion and lots of reports about the problem of Windows PC's no longer being able to access a Mac after an upgrade to Leopard. One reader is experiencing a loss of data.

J. Jason Burford offered a configuration setting suggestion:

We've had many more reports of Macs no longer being able to see Windows file shares after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Amir Zelcer says his networked computers disappeared:

After making a clean install of Tiger and then clean install of Leopard on my brand new MacBook Pro - no network computers are displayed. All are visible when Tiger was on, but they all disappear in Leopard. The support people here have no idea what's its all about.

Posts to the Apple discussion forums are reporting problems with Leopard's Mail 3.0 accessing Exchange Server via IMAP, something that previous versions of Mail can do.

Chenoa Osayande found a potentially useful new feature in Mail 3.0 regarding Exchanage but can't get it to work:

I noticed that Leopard Mail now has a box for OWA, but I have not been able to get it working. This feature is available in Microsoft Entourage, as you are probably aware. The neat thing about it is that it allows you to enter the OWA settings in Entourage and be able to receive and send mail without having to be on the corporate network via VPN, or be concerned about proxies.

I called Apple support, and the rep read from a manual and told me that this is now supported, but it definitely does not work the same in Mail as it does in Entourage. This is the last thing that is holding me back from ditching Entourage.

If you've had problems with IMAP in Leopard Mail, or have a suggestion for OWA, please let us know.

A reader offered a fiix for the problem with Boot Camp in Tiger (the last version 1.4 beta) where the screen goes blank during a Windows game. We also received new reports of the problem with additional games...

In the fall of 1997, users were running the new Mac OS 8.0 on what Apple called "the world's fastest personal computer," a 350-MHz Power Mac. Microsoft had just shipped Windows 95C OSR 2.5, the equivalent of Service Pack 2 1/2. Windows NT Server 4.0 had done serious damage to NetWare's server market share. Steve Jobs, who had returned to Apple a year earlier, had just been named Interim CEO "until a new CEO is named."

At that time computer news was highly segregated by platform: PC Magazine only covered Windows-based PC and Macworld only covered Apple products...

Readers are reporting more buggy behavior with Mac OS X 10.5.0 Leopard on Active Directory networks. Many readers have previously reported problems with binding to Leopard to Active Directory. Today, we have readers reporting some other strange behavior surrounding AD binding.

Leslie Wong verified a previous report of very slow AD connections, but offered an odd workaround. She also reports a problem waking from sleep...

A number of sources around the Internet are reporting a bug in Leopard that deletes data when the OS is interrupted during a file move between volumes. If you are moving (but not copying) a file, group of files, or a folder between volumes and the connection stopped during the move, Leopard will delete the files/folder form the original volume as well as the new volume. The move can occur between local drives or between local and network storage.

The bug has been reported by Macintouch, eWeek, and others. The workaround is to do a copy instead of a move, then delete the original.

Brent Westmoreland updated his report from last Friday about Leopard problems with Safari crashing with Windows ISA Proxy Server with a note verifying a tip from another reader:

Authoxy is indeed a success! Thanks for the tip.

Rick Shields updated his previous report saying that the problem occurs with more web sites than he first thought, and reports a bug with QuickTime:

I can verify that the problem occurs with a lot more than just Apple's page. The first “standard” 20 pages I go to a day seemed ok, but now tons more don't work.

I have tried Authoxy in the past and never got it to work.

Apple also has not fixed the QT via Proxy either...I had submitted a bug to them last year on that via the developer side. Everything works on a Windows box but if you go to a Mac a lot of times you get the QT ? instead of the QT movie. The issue seems to be they use QT with anonymous connections. Which in our case, using an ISA proxy requiring passwords won't work.

Aaron Weis reports of another VPN client that is incompatible with Leopard. A workaround that was available for Tiger doesn't work with Leopard:

We use the Juniper SSL VPN at work. The small client applet ("Network Connect") is no longer compatible with Leopard. Worked perfectly under Tiger. There are hacks, which sometimes work, but these only work for a Tiger working install which has been upgraded to Leopard. There is no way to install and run Network Connect on a clean Leopard install. Evidently libssl.0.9.dylib and libcrypt.0.9.dylb libraries included in Leopard are PPC only versions, rather than Universal (as in Tiger)... whoops.

On Monday, we reported that Leopard is not compatible with two other VPN clients, Equinux' VPN Tracker and Check Point SecureClient.

If you've seen a VPN problem with Leopard please let us know.

Repairing Disk Permissions in Leopard broke Safari 3

TIP: Make Leopard faster

Bugs in the Mac OS X 10.5.0 client are affecting third-party applications well as Leopard's build-in features, according to cross-platform integration developer Group Logic. Third-party networking software developers are currently preparing Leopard updates for problems that include include file and print sharing, Active Directory integration, and virtual private networks, issues that MacWindows readers have been reporting problems with for the past week with Leopard's buit-in networking features. Some developers thought Apple shipped Leopard too soon.

"Despite our bug reports, they didn't finish the AFP client before they shipped it out," said Reid Lewis, President and CEO of Group Logic. "They fixed a lot of them right at the end, but it was too much to finish off in the time frame they had..."

Today, Centrify released DirectControl for Mac OS X 3.0.8 preview (beta) for Leopard compatibility. DirectControl is a solution for integrating Macs, Linux, and Unix workstations into Microsoft Active Directory Networks. The company said with would ship the release version of DirectControl for Mac OS X 3.0.8 at the end of this month.

"[The 3.0.8 release] makes all of the capabilities of DirectControl for Mac--Group Policy, smart cards, and other Mac-specific functionality--available for Leopard." said Tom Cromelin, a spokesperson for Centrify.

Tomorrow, Centrify will release DirectControl 4 for Unix, Linux, and VMware (US$60 per workstation and US$350 per server). This major new version adds a web-based administrative console that can run on non-Windows machines. The web console can manage Users and Computers for DirectControl 3 systems, including the current DirectControl for Mac.

DirectControl 4 also enhances cross-platform Group Policy features and includes program fixes and "significant performance enhancements," according to Centrify. The new version also adds support for Citrix XenServer, Red Hat's SELinux, and Novell's AppArmor.

Centrify said that in January 2008, it will ship DirectControl for Mac OS X 4.1, which will bring the 4.0 features to Macs, add new Mac-specific features, and include Leopard support.

Equinux said that VPN Tracker 4, its universal virtual private network client, is not compatible with Mac OS 10.5. The company said it was entering a beta testing phase for a Leopard-compatible VPN Tracker 5 because it would not be able to patch version 4. Equinux is now accepting applications for beta testers at it's web site.

Reader Jean-Pierre Isbendjian reports that Check Point Software's VPN client for Mac is not compatible with Leopard:

As I was suspecting, Check Point Secureclient is not working with Leopard. Secureclient gets disabled once Leopard is installed and if you try to reinstall it, the installer will not install. I hope we won't have to wait 10 months or so as was the case when Tiger was issued.

If you've had problem's with add-in VPN clients and Leopard please let us know.

Tips and workaround for Leopard accessing Win file servers

More Leopard file sharing problems seeing or accessing content

Another report of trouble seeing Leopard from Windows

A couple of readers sent us instructions on enabling Leopard to see Windows file shares and where to enter the workgroup name.

Matt saw the previously reported file sharing problem and described the settings to fix it:

I can confirm this problem as well. However, in my case I solved it by going into the "advanced" options for System Preferences --> Network --> Ethernet. Under the WINS tab I entered the workgroup name for our PC network and the DNS server address. All PCs on that domain then appear under the "Shared" list...

Readers continue to report problems with accessing Windows file shares in Leopard. While some confirmed the previously reported symptom of not seeing Windows shares, other readers reported new symptoms, including not being able to use Connect to Server. One reader can’t print to a PC printer, and another reported that file sharing simply stopped working after a few days. For another reader, the Windows shares appear and disappear randomly.

Erik Ableson figured out a way to connect...

Readers continue to report problems with Leopard binding to Active Directory networks. One reader got it to work after multiple binding/unbindings. Another reports seeing it with Micrsoft's Services for Unix. One reader saw the same problem with the Leopard betas.

But first, Erik Ableson has a suggestion...

More readers reported problems with Safari crashing with Microsoft ISA Proxy connections. Several readers said that the problem does not occur with the FireFox web browser.

Robert Carper recommends a third-party program:

I've had the same problem with Safari in Leopard crashing when attempting to access secure sites through our ISA proxy server. In the early days of OS X I had used Authoxy from HRSoftWorks to get functional proxy access. I just tried that again tonight and it does seem to work nicely in Leopard. I've gone to a few secure sites with no issues at all.

Rick Shields only crashes at one web site: Apple's .Mac:

I to can confirm that my Safari crashes when going through the MS ISA proxy. But it is not all the time. It happens exclusively when I try to log into my .mac mail via the webpage. So far that is the only page. And I can confirm the syncs for .mac are not working either.

Brent Westmoreland saw the problem with Tiger, and says it's worse in Leopard:

There is still no adequate support for using a Windows 2003 Proxy Server. The bugs e.g. Safari crashing when trying to connect via a proxy, are still there. Worse, as it now occurs as iDisk syncing using the proxy settings causing the Finder to lock up/crash! In Tiger, network apps would crash when trying to use a ISA proxy as set in network settings. The exception to this was FireFox, which specifies its proxy setup in the app and works fine.

Leopard is worse. Apps like Safari still crash but also processes like filesync crash and the Finder gets all screwed up. I cannot fathom why a proxy connection causes OS X apps to crash. I'm hugely disappointed that Apple has not fixed this known bug from Tiger.

The problem relates to HTTP Authentication. It is a significant barrier to Macs in Windows shops using ISA in a more secure mode.

This author is right-on and the problem did persist through 10.4. When you place a Macintosh behind an ISA proxy you inevitably get prompted relentlessly, applications crash and the entire system takes on an unstable feeling. In 10.4 it was possible to use squidman ( http://homepage.mac.com/adg/SquidMan/index.html ) as a local caching proxy and configure the ISA box as an UPSTREAM proxy. This is a mildly complicated workaround, but solved a lot of headaches. Unfortunately, squidman will not be ported to leopard for a few more weeks and my success at compiling squid from source on 10.5 has been disastrous thus far.

Daniel, like the previous reader, found that FireFox works:

I'm experiencing the same issue, on my company network I cannot connect via the ISA proxy server when using Safari. on the same system using either: Firefox within OSX 10.5 or MS Explorer within Parallels and Windows XP no problem! the problem has actually caused Safari to crash several times, reset did not help.

The same system worked fine under 10.4.

For older reports on Microsoft Proxy Server, see our Macs and Microsoft Proxy Server Special Reports page.

Michael Politi reports a problem with Leopard Boot Camp, where the Windows display settings don't stick after rebooting Windows:

I am having a problem using my Apple 23" Cinema Display when rebooting my MacBook Pro. It works well, but I must reset the Windows Nvidia Control Panel display configuration to Clone every time I reboot the machine?

I am using the following system:

MacBook Pro 17" 2.4 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Windows XP Professional in BootCamp with Leopard

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

Many readers are reporting the inability to bind to Active Directory after upgrading to Leopard that we first reported on Monday. Some are seeing dialogs that report an "unknown error." Others report an error message that says "Invalid user name and password combination." One reader said that his Macs freeze when they attempt binding.

I am having issues with Leopard and Active Directory as well. After upgrading a system that uses AD auth I am no longer able to login with AD user accounts. Logging in with a local account and removing/re-adding to AD does not solve the problem...

Security experts quoted in an eWeek story said that Leopard's firewall security holes that don’t exist in Tiger, the previous version of Mac OS X. The story quotes several researches who tested the new Mac OS X's built-in firewall.

One researcher discovered that Leopard's "block all incoming connections" setting does not in fact block all connections. He found that it allows several connections through the firewall, including ntpd (Network Time Protocol daemon) connections and NetBIOS name server connections.

Users do not have the option to tighten security by tweaking the configuration. As we've previously reported, Leopard has removed the configuration options that Tiger had, including blocking access to specific ports, restricting TCP or UDP access, or allowing only specific services, such as file sharing or FTP access. Users only have the "block all connections," choose applications to allow to connect, or allow all connections (turn the firewall off).

Another tester found some inconsistencies in the settings. He discovered that if file sharing was turned on, the "block all incoming connections" allowed other Macs to see the Mac, though not connect to it. This means that the "Block all" setting was allowing Bonjour broadcasts through the firewall.

Another noted concern was the fact that the Leopard upgrade installation deactivates the firewall by default, even if it was previously on. Tiger did not behave this way.

A number of readers responded to Monday's report of problems mounting Windows shares with Leopard. Several readers reported that turning off file sharing allowed them to connect to Windows shares. For others, this didn't work.

Rob Groome:

Yes, I see this problem as well. By turning off Mac File Sharing, I can now see my Windows network and access shared files and printers. I wasted two days messing around with Windows IsDomainMaster and MaintainServerList registry properties with SOME success but the "ups" disappeared whenever a Windows machine was rebooted...

Reader says Leopard/Safari crashes with ISA Proxies

A source told MacWindows that Entourage 2008 will not be a native MAPI Exchange client, and will continue to connect to Exchange Server using WebDAV. But the new version will add support for Kerberos authentication, allowing single sign-on in an Active Directory environment. The lack of MAPI, and inclusion of Kerberos, are aspects of the current Entourage 2008 Beta 7, which is not public.

Readers have long complained that the lack of MAPI makes Entourage an Exchange client that is unequal to Outlook. (The old Outlook 2001 for Mac OS 9 was a MAPI client.) Kerberos has also been a feature frequently requested by network administrators. Currently, users are authenticated to Active Directory via OS X's support provides a single sign-on to most services, while Entourage continues to ask for it's own password.

Microsoft has only disclosed one new feature of Entourage 2008, a stand-alone program called My Day. Microsoft’s Office 2008 preview web site describes My Day as displaying appointments, tasks, and messages in a small space. My Day lets users add a task or print a schedule, and has a button that can launch Entourage.

Entourage 2008 is scheduled for release in January 2008 as part of the Office 2008 suite. It will be Intel- and PowerPC-native.

Click here for more cross-platform issues with Office 2008.

Rainer's copy of VMware Fusion is hard crashing his Mac:

I am a Mac user for more than 15 years and need to run two programs for which there are no Mac versions. I bought VM Fusion three weeks ago together with a new MacBook Pro and I am not too happy with it.

The problem is that every day Fusion crashes fatally leaving me no other choice than to hard reset the computer. Support is very helpful and responding to my mails, but so far it does not help, still the same error pops up.

When it works it is brilliant, easy to combine Mac OS and Windows XP, drag 'n drop, right-click, everything works perfectly. Unity view is nice, but I have problems to start programs from my dock, I work mostly in single window view to move files from one os to the other. All this works very neatly. Unfortunately, if I can't get it to stop crashing I will have switch to something else.

I have a MacBook Pro 17-inch, Mac OS X 10.4.10, Windows XP Pro.

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

See our VMware Fusion Tips and Reports page for more on Fusion.

Winson Chu updated his report from last week about not being about to get the brightness setting to stick in Windows Vista and Boot Camp. He said

"I fixed it by updating to Input Remapper 1.0.4."

Remapper is a keyboard mapping utility that runs under Windows.

For more on Boot Camp, see our Boot Camp Beta Tips and Reports page.

Keyboard stops working with Boot Camp 1.4

Key mapping error in Boot Camp 1.4

Boot Camp problem with clock, hidden file settings

Boot Camp screen goes blank during game

Windows/Boot Camp losing file associations

Troubleshooting AirPort and printers

Group Logic today released ExtremeZ-IP 5.1, an upgrade to the AFP Windows-based server solution for supporting Mac clients. ExtremeZ-IP 5.1 File Server adds file-naming and storage policies. ExtremeZ-IP Print Server 5.1 increases scalability and adds new management capabilities. A new device discovery widget is also included.

With the new version, administrators can now define and enforce policies that prevent Mac users from using filenames that are incompatible with Windows users. Policy enforcement features have also been expanded to prohibit the storage of certain file types on the server.

ExtremeZ-IP 5.1 includes a new Dashboard widget called Zidget for discovering and accessing print and file servers. Group Logic said the widget enables administrators to completely eliminate AppleTalk, which is still sometimes used with Mac clients to access network-based Postscript printers.

ExtremeZ-IP Print Server 5.1 can now support up to 1,500 simultaneous print queues without degrading performance, according to the company. This allows sites to consolidate multiple print server software solutions into a single server, thus lowering licensing and management costs. The Print Server enables single-point management of enterprise-wide printing.

ExtremeZ-IP file and print server are also now IPv6 compliant. The company said that ExtremeZ-IP 5.1 supports all releases of the Mac operating system, from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, to be release from Apple on the 26th.

ExtremeZ-IP 5.1 is a free update for ExtremeZ-IP 5.0 users who have an active support contract. A free trial version is available at Group Logic's Web site.

Yesterday, e2Sync, Inc., added support for dozens of Nokia phones to its e2Entourage software for Mac OS X. e2Entourage is a plugin for Apple's iSync that lets you sync contacts, tasks, and calendar items between Entourage and several dozen Nokia phone models. e2Entourage also can sync Entourage with an iPhone. e2Sync's e2Entourage is normally US $39, but is now available for US $29.

Smith Micro has released version 12 of the Mac versions of StuffIt Deluxe (US$80), StuffIt Standard Edition (US$50), and StuffIt Expander (free). The new version of StuffIt Deluxe adds the ability to compress cross-platform file formats that are already compressed, including MP3, PDF, TIFF, PNG, GIF, and BMP. The new version also increases compression of JPG files to 30 percent, and can re-compress zip archives.

StuffIt is a cross-platform compression and encoding utility that supports many Mac, Windows, and Unix/Linux compression and encoding formats.

Yesterday, Apimac released Compress Files 3.0, a new version of its compression utility for Mac OS X. The new version adds the ability to create XAR (eXtensible ARchive format) archives, a new open source archive format that Apple will use in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard for software installation, according to Apimac. Compress Files 3.0 also supports encrypted and normal zip archives.

For a list of cross-platform compression utilities for Mac OS X and Windows, see our Compression Solutions page.

No need to give up the Mac Doc when running Windows in Boot Camp. Aqua Dock is a free utility for Windows XP that makes the Taskbar look and act like the Mac OS X Dock. Items are minimized with Dock-like icons that will zoom when you mouse over them. Aqua Dock can be customized using settings for the look of each Dock icon. You can also change the type of animation when you mouse over the Dock.

We've added Aqua Dock to our Front End Solutions page, which lists third-party products that make Windows look and act more like Mac OS X, and vice versa.

(Thanks to Chris Breshears for the tip.)

Derek Smith reports of a problem with Word and Mac minis:

We have a slew of Dual-core Intel Mac minis in a lab and in two classrooms that are throwing panic crashes when Word prints.

This link gives me a clue as to what is going on here:

http://mactip.blogspot.com/2007/07/dependent-dylib-is-not-prebound.html

Do your readers have any hints or tips on how to fix this problem?

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

Shan Younker sent us a tip to fix an Entourage password problem with a few Macs:

I used to have problems with Entourage asking for a password 2 to 3 times. Entourage was trying to log into our proxy server. I spoke with a Microsoft rep at MacWorld and he gave me a tip. Once I set up my network preferences to "Bypass proxy settings" for our internal domain, Entourage stopped asking me for multiple passwords. If only some of your computers are having the issue, make sure your account settings in Entourage match and your Network preferences match.

If you've seen this please let us know.

Winson Chu can't get the brightness setting to stick in Windows Vista and Boot Camp:

I have a MacBook pro running Boot Camp 1.4 running Vista and Mac OS X. If I change the brightness, it always automatically resets to one level below the max brightness within a few seconds. This problem goes away if I shutdown and go into Mac OS, and shutdown and go into Vista. But if I reboot again into Vista or hibernate, the problem is back. The damn brightness setting keeps resetting to the same level with a few seconds of me changing it.

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

For more on Boot Camp, see our Boot Camp Beta Tips and Reports page.

Peter Kloss has further insight in to UID/GID problem with Services for Unix, Mac OS X, and Active Directory. He also shared how he got around a problem with the "Map Group GID to attribute" option:

Many thanks for posting my question and for posting the hints by Steve Meyers and Dedrick Allen. By combining the logic in their answers I have now got a working login that meets my requirements.

What I hadn't realized was that I need not tick all three UID / GID mapping options. I had assumed it was all or nothing, and just unchecking the "Map Group GID to attribute" option (and leaving the others ticked) allows the local home to mount and my blue screen problem has gone.

Another issue in our environment prevented us from using the "Map Group GID to attribute" option. We have a hierarchical root and child domain AD, and we make extensive use of universal security groups, which contain members from many of our child domains. SFU didn't understand this, and complained if we tried to set the GID of a group that contains members outside your local NIS domain.

After more testing with SFU and my Mac I got everything working. I should have realized at the outset that using an existing account (my own) in our cloned VM-ized AD environment was a bad idea. Our AD has an "empty" or null root domain with many children that hold the child accounts. Due to sizing limitations our virtualized clone test lab only has 3 out of 10 child domains present. I am the member of 28 windows groups, many of which have members outside our own child domain, and many of which are from domains not actually present in the VM'd clone. I also discovered I am a member of a universal group homed in another child domain which also happens not to be present in the clone! Any process that tries to evaluate the groups in this AD forest is going to have problems. (This clone works very well for a wide range of tests that we have been doing on recoverability and future upgrades to AD).

Using a 'scratch' account which only belongs to two groups in the local domain I was able to log in and mount a local home with the Map Group GID to attribute' option set and when creating a local file I was able to 'get info' and read the GIDs of all the reachable groups in AD, and those which had assigned GIDs showed them. Groups without assigned GIDS just showed '-2'.

So it looks like the failure of my own account was due to the complexity of its group memberships, the unreachability of the referenced domains and the inability of the AD plug in to handle all that elegantly. So there are obviously limitations to this feature that people need to be aware of in complex AD setups.

We have also found a way to assign the same NIS domain name to several child domains so it is possible to assign GIDs to universal groups with the correct configuration.

Last week Apple acknowledged that Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard would include support for Sun's ZFS file system when the new OS is shipped this month. According to a Computerworld report, Apple said that the support would be limited to read-only access and only through the Unix command line, and not through the Finder.

Last June, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz said that Apple would make ZFS the default operating system, replacing HFS+. Apple said that HFS+ will continue to be the default file system in Leopard.

Jean-Philippe Borel is using the lastest release version of Parallels Desktop to connect to equipment through a USB-to-serial adapter:

The installation of Parallels 3 Build 5160 was practically without problems. Parallels runs well with Windows software, and with USB and serial cables to different measuring and control equipment through Lindy serial adapter.

My Laptop: MacBook 2 GHz Intel Core Duo, 2 GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.4.10.

Barry Smythe thinks the new CodeWeavers' CrossOver 6.2 is an improvement over the previous version:

I have found 6.2 MUCH faster opening and running Microsoft Project Pro.

CrossOver is software that runs Windows applications on an Intel Mac without the need for Windows. However, it runs a select group of Windows applications.

If you've tried CrossOver 6.2 please let us know.

For more on CrossOver, see our CrossOver Reports page.

An anonymous reader said that a fix that we reported works for the Entourage "Invalid Password" problem, but has a side effect:

Attempting the solution provided by Ronald Bledsoe appeared to resolve authentication errors. However, it had the side effect of prevent shared calendar syncing from completing which hampered the display of new inbox mail receipt. I was forced to backout the authentication solution to resolve the calendar sync.

Centrify posted a 10-page PDF file called Centralized Mac Home Directories with ExtremeZ-IP, which describes how to integrate Centrify's DirectControl with Group Logic's ExtremeZ-IP. A spokesperson for Group Logic said that the white paper is "the culmination of coordination and testing by both firms."

Centrify describes the document:

This application note describes how to configure both DirectControl and ExtremeZ-IP to enable users to log in to an OS X system with their Active Directory user ID and password to gain access to their home directory stored on a Windows server.

DirectControl is Mac OS X software for integrating Macs into Microsoft Active Directory. ExtremeZ-IP is an AFP file and print server running on Windows to support Mac clients.

Robert reviews on some of the aspects of CrossOver 6.2, the new version of the software that runs Windows applications on an Intel Mac without the need for Windows. (This makes it an inexpensive solution). Robert wrote:

CrossOver 6.2 works OK with the listed approved applications. With unsupported applications, it is very much a hit and miss affair. Unfortunately, there has been a retrograde step with version 6.2, which no longer runs Radmin 3.0 from Famatech. Codeweavers also has a VERY odd support system where users have to 'pledge' (financial) support by buying copies of Crossover to get unsupported applications possibly added at some unspecified future date. I did this to get Radmin support but now it is broken again!

It is OK when you just want to use IE to view a site that is broken in Safari (Netclassroom for example), but for serious work with a Windows application, it is Boot Camp as first choice and Parallels as second.

Having said that, all three applications have enabled me to get rid of the Windows box I used to keep in my office for the very infrequent times I needed to run Windows to do something because the Macs couldn't.

If you've tried CrossOver 6.2 please let us know.

For previous coverage of CrossOver and a version history, see our CrossOver Reports page.

Parallels Build 5160: wireless mouse disconnects in Coherence mode

Dedrick Allen responded with a suggestion to previous reports of Active Directory problems with the user identification (UID) and group identification (GID) using Services for Unix (SFU):

I have seen the problem Mr. Peter Kloss describes. I use SFU for OS X integration as it works better than OS X's native support. However, if you do this you have to make sure all the windows groups that your users could possibly be a member of has an NIS Domain and GID assigned on the UNIX Attributes tab of the groups properties.

Please let us know if this works for you.

Nicholas has a theory about the network slowdowns Mac OS X 10.4.10, which are likely due to problems with DNS lookups. Irias also comments on previous suggestions to use OpenDNS:

I have seen this problem on both of the 10.4.10 iMacs that I have access to, one on my home DSL and the other on the company network. OpenDNS seems to help but that is just a band-aid and Apple still needs to fix this bug.

We had one of the company's two internal DNS servers offline for a day and all OSX web browsing became glacial. But nslookup was fast at the command line, via the browser on Windows boxes, and even via the Parallels instance on the same iMac.

My speculation: I think the issue is that Safari and Firefox both use some Apple API for address resolution that does a horrible job of dealing with an unresponsive primary DNS. If the first DNS they hit happens to be down or is temporarily unable to respond, that API goes into a coma for 30 seconds or so instead of rapidly proceeding to a secondary DNS. Using OpenDNS only helps because their DNSs have a generally high availability so that horrifically bad DNS algorithm rarely needs to go to a secondary DNS. If the API was fixed the browsers would resolve addresses as quickly as nslookup does.

We have more reports of the Entourage problem where time zones for events get changed to "Casablanca, Monrovia," which is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

J.B. Zimmerman, who previous sent a report, clarifies:

Just FYI, in my case it is *all* events, not just all-day ones.

Justin Rogers reports:

I also have this problem. It's a PITA. All-day events created in iCal get put into Entourage as all day events in Casablanca, Monrovia, but they look like it's on one day in my calendar. In Outlook/Exchange/Blackberry, they span two days, and it's very annoying to have that on my Mobile and everywhere else. I'm in the same time zone as the server, and everything is set for GMT. Not sure what a fix is, other than to go into entourage and create everything, or once created in iCal, go to entourage and change to EST.

Crossover 6.2 improves Outlook and on Mac and Fortress II support

Yesterday, CodeWeavers released Crossover Mac 6.2, an update for the software that enables Windows applications to run in Mac OS X. The company also released Crossover Linux 6.2. Unlike virtual machine products such as Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion, CrossOver does not run Microsoft Windows. Instead, CrossOver enables Mac OS X to run selected Windows apps natively.

The new version includes some "major work" for support of Outlook, which is 50 percent faster than in version 6.1 when run on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, which Apple will release this month. Version 6.2 also has a number of bug fixes for Outlook support, including the fixing of time-zone issues, as well as bug fixes for other applications.

The company also said that CrossOver 6.2 is the first and only solution available that can run Valve's Team Fortress II "out of the box" in Mac OS X.

Other improvements include:

• Fixed font rendering in several apps, including Quicken 2007
• A new Dock presence for running Windows applications. This provides some Mac-like interfaces for applications, including the activation of apps and quitting via the Dock.
• Fixed problems with Flash Player 9
• Fixes for printing to printers without default fonts
• DirectSound support
• Preliminary MIDI support
• Improved audio input

CrossOver 6.2 is available for US$60 as a download, US$70 for a CD. CodeWeavers is offering a 10 percent discount through October 31 for orders at the company website, using the "special deal" code of "zomg".

If you've tried CrossOver 6.2 please let us know.

For previous coverage of CrossOver and a version history, see our CrossOver Reports page.

An Apple tech article says that users currently running Boot Camp in Mac OS X 10.4.x Tiger will have to upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard when Apple ships the new operating system this month. Article 306583, updated on September 30, now says:

The license to use Boot Camp Beta expires when Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is available to the public. To continue using Boot Camp at that time, upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

This implies that Apple will not make Boot Camp available to Tiger users, either free or for a fee. It is not known whether the current Boot Camp Beta 1.4 and version 1.3 expire and cease to work on the Leopard ship date, which Apple has not announced other than to say it was in October. It is also possible that Boot Camp Beta 1.3 and 1.4 will simply become illegal to run. Boot Camp Beta 1.2 expired on September 30.

Boot Camp is Apple software for enabling Macs to boot natively into Windows. For more on Boot Camp, see our Boot Camp Beta Tips and Reports page.

J.B. Zimmerman also has the Entourage problem where time zones for all-day events get changed to "Casablanca, Monrovia." He described the problem this causes:

Oy gevalt, do I have it. All Entourage users in our firm have their time zone set to Monrovia; I *think* it has to do with the fact that the Exchange server uses GMT for its time zone and Entourage doesn't know how to handle that other than finding a Mac time zone that is GMT. The problem comes when that time zone is then applied to events, and the delta is *re*applied at some point in the process.

In my case, I will see events "blocked" at the proper time for my time zone, but whenever I *view* the event (or get the alerts) it lists it using 'local' Monrovia (GMT) time. So basically I have to do mental gymnastics whenever I get a meeting request or change alert.

If I go into my calendar view, they all show up at the proper (local) time, i.e., with the offset from GMT applied.

It drives me crazy. We're on Exchange 2003, with all current service packs.

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

Thursby Software said that its DAVE and ADmitMac software is currently being upgraded Apple's upcoming Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The company said that Leopard will require the upgrades, which are now in beta testing, and which will be free for licenses purchased after July 31, 2007.

DAVE is cross-platform file/print sharing software for Mac OS X. ADmitMac integrates Macs into Microsoft Active Directory.

Peter Kloss sent some more information about the problem with Macs, Active Directory, and Services for Unix and the user identification (UID) and group identification (GID):

I'd like to clarify that the only file system that I need to mount is the home directory; It can't even manage that. The only file system option I have to work is "portable account" which creates a local file system on the Mac for each AD user. The test lab I'm working with, which is a clone of our AD infrastructure in a VM environment, lacks some configuration to allow me to use networked homes.

To clarify the actual symptom: with the option to read the SFU attributes, the authentication succeeds, but after seeing the "logging in <username>" window, the system is stuck with a blank screen, and the only escape is to power off. If this was the first time the user was ever logged in on the Mac, a new home directory is made for the user with the attributes defined in the SFU UID/GID definitions, but this never mounts. Uncheck the option to read the SFU attributes and the login proceeds to completion with the home folder visible and usable, with the SFU defined UID/GID applied. So something is hanging the tail end of login with the option to read the SFU attributes.

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

A pair of readers offered workarounds for the Boot Camp problem where Windows occasionally would restart when trying to boot the Mac into Windows.

Jenna Cross offered this:

Dan Kessler reported having a problem with his Boot Camp where Windows will start to load and then go to a black screen and restart. I have had the same problem with my MacBook Pro laptop. I thought it might be something to do with the video driver, but reloading it didn't fix the problem.

The best way to deal with it that I've found is to NOT press the Option key when it restarts. It will start up the Mac side just fine. Then I shut it down or restart it from there. Windows usually works for me on that second full start up. However, I don't know of any real solution, so I'm considering switching to Parallels or Fusion.

Anyen Ho Ho offered another workaround:

It happens to me. I have MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz Santa Rosa. My solution is to unplug the external USB2 had drive. This approach did not fix the problem for the previous reader who reported the problem. He thought it might be bad RAM.

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

For more on Boot Camp, see our Boot Camp Beta Tips and Reports page.

Ben Morris in Australia has a problem first reported last year with Entourage where all-day events get changed to "Casablanca, Monrovia:"

I am writing about the weird problem with the Entourage/Exchange/iCal/.Mac and all-day events combo where the event gets stretched and the time zone gets changed to Casablanca, Monrovia.

I note that another user has had this problem, but I am unable to find a resolution on the web, apart from changing all day events to timed events.

Another odd thing is that Casablanca is in Morocco. Monrovia is in Liberia, well over 1000 miles away. Both are in Greenwich Mean Time.

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

For more on Entourage, see our Entourage/Exchange Server Reports.

Mucai Kunyiha offered a different workaround for the the Entourage/Exchange logon problem where it continually asks for a password. In this case, the problem was Exchange server:

For four days, I had a persistent problem with Entourage and my Exchange mail service at the office showing the error below:

Mail could not be received at this time. The server for account "Exchange Server" returned the error "Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password." Your username/password or security settings may be incorrect. Would you like to try re-entering your password?

The message seemed to pop-up every 10 minutes or so. I was also not receiving or sending mail consistently, and the Exchange folder in Entourage does not show mail in my server accurately.

We tried the suggestion by Ronald Bledsoe: set the username to be domain\username and leave the domain field blank in Entourage. But with no luck.

We then re-started the Exchange Server and presto, No more error messages! Our guess is the server was clogged up with some temporary files and the delay in authentication was causing the error.

I am running Entourage 11.3.6 (070618) on Mac OS X Version 10.4.10. Our office runs Exchange 2000.

If you've tried this fix please let us know.

For more on Entourage, see our Entourage/Exchange Server Reports.

Lorenzo Buresta in Italy had problems binding Macs to Active Directory when he upgraded his server to Windows 2003. Some configuration changes fixed the problem:

I had no problems when I was running the AD domain on a Windows 2000 Server. Binding OS X clients was straightforward. Some months ago we upgraded to Win 2003 and problems began to pop up.

When I tried to bind an OS X client to our AD domain using the Directory Access panel, the AD Forest field could not be changed and showed the same gray writing: -Automatic- Trying to bind only filling the other fields (domain) didn't work, resulting in a "Invalid Domain" warning" "An invalid Domain and Forest combination was specified. You should enter a fully qualified DNS name for the domain and forest."

Our AD domain server is a 2003 SP2 server. The domain name entered is valid, so is the domain administrator name and password. The Forest name is the same as the domain name. Server and clients belong to the same network. DNS servers of client/server are the same. Clocks are synchronized.

I succeeded in binding my OS X 10.4 clients to the AD domain using suggestions from a Discussion Thread in the Apple Support Site.

It seems that Windows Server 2003 is more 'touchy' than Windows 2000 Server as to some parameters I did not used to consider before.

I checked that DNS entry of the Clients is the same of the Win2003/AD server. At the same time, when filling the fields in the Directory Access AD plugin, I managed to specify an AD DC and its IP number (instead of typing its FQD name, as I used to do with the old Win2000).

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

For more on Active Diretory, see our report Integrating Macs with Active Directory.

Steve Meyers reports having the previously reported Active Directory problem with user identification (UID) and group identification (GID) on Mac OS X, and Services for Unix:

I'm having the same problem. I have UID mapped to uidNumber, and GID mapped to gidNumber. I've found that memberd doesn't crash if I don't have groups mapped (I still need to have the primary group ID mapped). I'm not mounting any file systems on login, so that isn't relevant; I'm just using a home directory in Users at login.

For more on Active Diretory, see our report Integrating Macs with Active Directory.

Last night, VMware published a VMware Fusion Beta 1.1, a public beta (prerelease) version of the next version of the virtual machine software for Mac OS X. The new version promises "experimental" support for Windows DirectX 9.0 3D graphics (though without shaders), which is required with some games and to use some of Windows Vista’s featuers. Also in this version is the ability to sync iPhone to Outlook from within Windows.

Other improvements include:

• Option to show or hide the Windows taskbar and Start menu in the View menu
• Improved functioning of the Unity feature (which hides the Windows desktop) in Windows Vista 32 and 64-bit editions and Windows XP 64-bit edition
• Improved Boot Camp partition detection to work around issue where the partition type is incorrectly set
• User interface improvements
• Bug fixes

For more on VMware, see our VMware Tips and Reports page.

Volker Laska had some trouble updating Parallels Desktop to the lastest Build 5160, until he received some advice from Parallels:

I had a bad start with this version, as it wouldn't update but required an uninstall. I then got an important hint from Parallels support: uninstall Parallel Tools first, then uninstall old Parallels version, install the new release, reinstall Parallel Tools, and voila, everything works!

Fred Plautz agreed with Parallels claim that the new Build 5160 uses fewer hardware resources in the Mac:

I upgraded to build 5160. It does use fewer resources. iStat Pro numbers have gone from the mid 40's to the mid 20's on average. It also feels quicker and is very stable.

Dan Kessler is having a Boot Camp problem that is somewhat similar to the "endless boot cycle" issue, though not exactly:

I have an 8-core Mac Pro with three internal drives, the ATI 1900XT video card and 4GB of RAM). One of the drives is dedicated to Windows XP Professional.

Restarting the computer, and holding the Option key brings up the expected operating system choice. But if I select Windows, it sometimes doesn't work. The screen will go black, the fans will whir up then stop, it will sit there for a while. Then the computer will automatically restart itself. If I hold down the Option key after this automatic restart, and select Windows startup, the whole process happens again.

I go through this cycle 3 or 4 times. Eventually I get a Windows screen telling me it had a serious system error and would I like to startup in Safe Mode or continue a normal startup process. I select normal startup and everything works.

I don't get any "blue" screen as described on your website as the "Endless Win boot cycle" problem. In fact, I don't get any video at all until I go through the reboot cycle I described about 2 to 5 times (the number of times varies for some reason). So, no error message telling me "the image olecnv32.dll" might be corrupt.

I do have several USB devices plugged in, but I tested this with only a mouse and keyboard, and the problem is still there. And, I tried swapping the hard drive bays around.

I'm beginning to wonder if it's a problem with the RAM I bought.

Not a solution, but I've selected both startup in "last known good configuration" and "start Windows normally" after the multiple reboot error identifies itself. Either one brings me successfully to Windows.

Once Windows completes the boot, I get the error message asking if I'd like to submit the error to Microsoft.

If you've seen this please let us know.

Denis Lessard verified a previously reported fix for the problem where Entourage repeatedly asks for a password with an "Invalid Password" message. Lessard said:

We're running OS 10.4.9 and Entourage 11.3.6. It connects back to our Exchange 2003 servers. The solution provided by Ronald Bledsoe settles the issue definitely: set the username to be domain\username and leave the domain field blank in Entourage. Thanks for the solution!

Eric Andreen reported a problem where Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac seems to disconnect his network-connected storage:

I use Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) along with Cisco VPN 4.9.01 to connect to my employer's Windows network. So far, this has worked very well, but with one irritating problem: The connection with my network drive (which stores ALL of my families documents, media files, etc.) is interrupted and disconnected when I connect. This is inconvenient, as I like to be able to go back and forth between my RDC connection and working on my home network.

The problem does not seem to be Cisco VPN, since nothing seems to happen when I connect. My network drives do however disconnect when I open RDC and connect. I get a message "Server connection interrupted." My Internet connection stays operational (obviously it must for RDC to stay connected).

I wonder if this is a port issue, or something related to my router? It is interesting to note that when I startup to Windows XP, and connect with Cisco VPN and RDC the connection is successful, and my network shares remain connected. So this problem seems to be specific to OS X.

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

(For more on RDC, see our RDC Reports and Tips page.)

4D SAS has released 4D v11 SQL for Mac OS X and Windows (starting at US $349), the first major release from the database company in three years. The new version adds 200 enhancements, including compatibility with Windows Vista and native support for Intel-based Macs (as a universal binary release).

4D v11 SQL also adds a new database engine that is compatible with existing 4D applications, but which includes native integrated SQL that is more easily scalable than before. 4D v11 SQL also adds support for SQL, SVG, and Unicode, as well as enhancing its support for ODBC, XML and SOAP based Web Services. There are a also number of new developer tools, a new design environment, and an integrated maintenance center. 4D v11 SQL also provides a new component architecture that the company says wil enable developers to deliver code that is secure, high performance, and modular.

Nello Pensieri in Rome, Italy, describes how he fixed a problem with AirPort and a non-Apple base station:

I got a MacBook Pro a month ago with 10.4.10 pre-installed. For three days I searched for the reason why AirPort wasn't communicating with my Linksys WRT54G. While I saw some of net problems discussed at MacWindows (slow browsing, connection dropping every 10 minutes and so on), I didn't see a fix, and found nothing at the Linksys web site.The trick was changing the wireless channel of my AirPort to nr. 5 (2.432GHz). Now everything's working fine. Anyone with a problem working with AirPort and a base station other than Apple's Airport Base Station must try to optimize her AP configuration to meet the best of client.

Jennifer Lum was having the problem of Boot Camp not booting into Mac OS X unless the PRAM is reset. She wrote to report verify a fix we previously reported: I just wanted to let you know that your solution to highlight Mac for startup disk but not restart at that time seems to have cured my MacBook from defaulting to Windows. Thanks for the help, this has been driving me bonkers!

Oystein Saebo is another reader reporting that the Boot Camp 1.4 update disabled Windows Vista's Nvidia graphics drivers. He solved this by reinstalling and then updating the driver, and found a way to get the Apple 30-inch display to work:

I had the same problem. I just ran the Boot Camp driver install again, choosing Repair, and the correct nvidia driver was back. I also updated the driver with the latest driver for mobile Nvidia gpus from laptopvideo2go.com.

Another bigger problem is to get the external 30-inch Apple Cinema Display to work with Vista and Win XP on a new MacBook Pro. It seemed like the Vista Nvidia driver is not dual-link capable. I got it to work now. Check out my reply in this thread at the Apple Discussion Forums.

In previous reports, some readers have had success with non-Apple drivers from the Nvidia web site.

Max Mars has problems with graphics in Boot Camp 1.4 and the new 24-inch iMac:

There are many problems with ATI Radeon 2600 Pro in a new aluminum iMac running Windows XP and Vista. There's video noise and stuff like that. I can't play many games. I've installed a Medal of Honor Airborne. It starts to run great, with good FPS, but then it always crashes.

Peter Kloss has a problem with Macs, Active Directory, and Services for Unix and the user identification (UID) and group identification (GID):

I'm having problems trying to use Microsoft Services for Unix (SFU) assigned UID / GID and Mac OS X native AD plug-in. SFU components installed on a DC to allow assignment of UID and GID to 'msSFU30UidNumber' and 'msSFU30GidNumber'. The Mac OS X Native AD plugin is set to read these attributes in the Directory Access utility, AD plug-in Advanced Options mappings. Authentication works fine, as the file system for new a user is created with correct attributes, but file system never mounts. It's left stuck with a blank blue screen and the only way out is a hard reset. Logs indicate that memberd has crashed. Unchecking the mappings option and log-in followed by file system mount is very fast, the UID/GID set is remembered.

Chris Phelps reports printing problems printing calendars when users are in different time zones:

Weekly calendars don't print correctly for meetings set up in time zones that are not local. If someone in the EST time zone sets up a meeting from 1:00-2:00 it shows up correctly in my on screen calendar and on a daily printed calendar as being from 11:00-12:00 MST. If I print a weekly calendar, the meeting shows from 11:00MST - 2:00MST. It looks like it is simply not adjusting the time zone for the ending time. When colleagues in Europe set up meetings my calendar is a mess since all meetings appear to be at least 9 hours long.

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

Mark Caban verified two suggestions for fixing the problem of Windows Vista authenticating to OS X Server:

I used Hayward Kong's and Rich White's suggestions and they worked for me. I have a wired home network with two iMacs running OS X 10.4.10 and one PC running Vista Basic. Vista would not recognize the username or password until I tried the above mentioned suggestions that I found on your site.

Wil Nelson reports that the new version of Parallels Desktop 3, Build 5160, uses less of the Mac's processor than previous versions:

I downloaded Parallels Build 5160 and noticed that idle CPU usage generally is in the single digits spiking to mid teens and sometimes twenty percent or higher. Overall, this appears to be down from the constant mid-20 to mid-30 percent range. With one browser running, usage is about the same. My download, upgrade and installation required two reboots to get it all working but was not a big deal. I no longer use Boot Camp due to Parallel's performance increases since Parallels 2.x.

We have two more reports from readers about problems with Windows Vista connecting to Mac OS X Server.

Peter Fletcher altered his logon:

I saw the Vista authentication issue posted by Christian Jacob on September 6th 2007. I too had this problem, but was able to solve it by adding the IP address of the OS X Server before my Vista Users login.

Example:

Login: 10.0.1.201\pete
Password: ********

Not sure why you have to do it that way, but it has worked for me. By the way, I am running Mac OS X Server 10.4.10.

Gary Minato had an explanation about NTLM in Vista, some advice from Microsoft, and some more links:

Vista uses a later version of SMB than does Mac OS X Server. The issue here is that the authentication in Vista's version of SMB has been upgraded and only accepts authentication from requests from clients that meet this newer version of SMB authentication. There are workarounds this for this issue for some versions of Vista ABOVE Home Premium and not so simple workarounds for other versions.

I've got some links to info on the web on this topic:

• At VistaX64.com, from Michael Bishop (MS) - "Basically, the issue with Samba and Vista is that Vista no longer permits LM or NTLM authentication by default; only NTLMv2. Samba versions 1.x and 2.x only support LM and NTLM, so there's an issue there.

"[MS] Recommended solution: upgrade to Samba 3.x and enable NTLMv2 by adding "client ntlmv2 auth = yes" to your smb.conf file. Because of another issues with previous versions, I strongly recommend upgrading to 3.0.22 or later regardless of your choice for this particular instance."

• Builder AU.com
• From MacOSX Hints

You can read previous reports and suggestions for this issue on our Mac OS X Server/Windows Clients report page.

Jarran Rapsey reported that his Mac users could not see folders placed on a Windows Server by Windows users. The problem was similar to an older problem where Windows files placed on AFP shares were invisible to Macs. Rapsey found that previously reported fix for the problem worked for him. Rapsey also sent some additional clarifying instructions:

I recently connected a Mac client to our SBS Server 2003 network and ran into the problem where the Mac client was unable to see any new folders or files created by PC clients.

However, I have just followed Craig Overboe's fix, as posted on Aug 28, 2006, and it appears to have successfully resolved the issue - fantastic!

One extra thing to note: You need to make sure that when you create then new Mac share (i.e. point 6 of Craig's process), that you ensure that it is enabled for read/write access. We found that when we recreated the share it defaulted to read only and although we were able to see all of the files, we still couldn't modify them on the Mac client.

If you run into this problem, you need to enable read and write on the new Mac share that you created while following Crag Overboe's instructions. To enable read/write after the fact, follow these steps:

1. On the server, click the start button and then right click My Computer and choose Manage.
2. Once the Computer Management dialog is visible, click shared folders and then shares.
3. Then right click on the Mac share folder that you previously created and select Properties.
4. Unclick the 'This volume is ready only' option.

These and other reports are on our Windows 2003 Server Reports page.

Ken Cluff reports running a five-year-old copy of Connectix (pre-Microsoft) Virtual PC 5 on the latest version of Mac OS X:

I bought a copy of VPC5.0 from eBay. Installed it on a Dual 500 G4 PowerMac, Gigabit of RAM The Power Mac is running 10.4.10. Virtual PC runs without a hitch. I'm running Windows 98 to keep the RAM requirements down and the Windows overhead as light as possible. I get a network kernel extension error of some type when VPC starts, but since I'm not interested in networking the virtual machine, it's a non-issue for me.

Not bad for a piece of virtual machine software that hasn't been tested for Mac OS X in half a decade. Virtual PC 5 is incompatible with the PowerPC G5 processor (and any Intel processor), but works with the G4. We've had previous reports of VPC5 running in earlier releases of Tiger, but this is the first in over two years. The current version of Virtual PC, 7.0.3, is still sold by Microsoft for PowerPC Macs.

On Monday, a European Union court rejected a Microsoft appeal to an anti-trust decision against the company. As a result, Microsoft will have to pay a fine of 497 million euros (US$613 million). Microsoft will also have to open up its server protocols so that competitors' servers are "able to interoperate with Windows domain architecture on an equal footing with Windows operating systems."

eWeek quotes several analysts as saying that Mac OS X Server could gain features for managing and locking down Windows clients, should Microsoft publish its server protocols.

One could speculate that published protocols for Exchange Server and Active Directory could also help Mac clients work better on Microsoft-based networks.

Parallels has released Parallels Desktop 3 Build 5160, an upgrade to the software for running Windows and Linux on Mac OS X. The new version is a final version of the last two betas, Builds 5060 and 5144, incorporating dozens of new features and improvements. (The previous stable release was Build 4560.)

This includes improvements to Coherence, the feature that hides the Windows desktop while displaying the Windows programs. Each Windows program window opens as a separate Mac window. Build 5160 now supports the Mac OS X's Exposé feature and the overlapping of Windows and Mac windows. You can now boot the virtual machine directly into Coherence mode, without first showing the Windows desktop. Transparent windows are now supported.

Other improvements over Build 4560 include:

• Windows application windows can minimize to the Mac OS X Dock
• Syncing between an iPhone and Windows (contacts, scheduler, mail and media)
• Improved performance and lower system overhead, including better DirectX and OpenGL performance
• Maximum memory size available for a virtual machine increased from 1.5GB to 2GB, and support for more than 4 GB or RAM for multiple virtual machines
• The ability to use Documents, Pictures, and Music folders as the My Documents, My Pictures, and My Music directories in Windows
• Map Mac folders to a Windows letter drives (a feature that Virtual PC had)
• Boot Camp compatible key mapping - Boot Camp key combinations substitute specific Windows keys like Insert, Print Screen and so on
• Configurable audio lets you use headphones within a virtual machine with highest sound quality. You can also now change input and output sound devices connected to virtual machine on the fly
• Parallels Transporter can now migrate a Linux PC (in addition to Windows) to a Parallels virtual machine
• The Parallels Image Tool lets you change the virtual hard disk's format between plain and expanding disk
• Parallels Mounter: Double-click Parallels virtual disks and mount them to Mac Desktop to access Windows files and folders using Finder, even if the virtual machine is not running. (Another Virtual PC feature)

The new version also includes several dozen bug fixes and stability improvements.

If you've tried Parallels Desktop 3.0 Build 5160 please let us know.

Alberto Macías found a fix for a Parallels problem with a Boot Camp partition:

I have found the solution for a bug with Parallels working with the Boot Camp partition. The error is a Blue Screen of Death when you try to load Windows. With a number ending in 7b.

The easy solution is to open Windows natively (in Boot Camp) and click in START/execute REGEDIT

OPEN THE KEY LOCAL MACHINE

OPEN THE KEY SOFTWARE

DELETE THE FOLDER PARALLELS (is a program with an incorrect Parallels Tools installation).

Then you can start Boot Camp through Parallels and update the Parallels Tools.

A lot of people have this problem and don't know the solution.

If you've seen this please let us know.

Alberto Macías sent us a fix for the problem he reported last month with VMware Fusion and a Boot Camp partition:

I found a workaround for VMware, when it can't find the Boot Camp partition. The solution is easy:

The partition table has the wrong file system type. (For example you have NTFS but internally sometimes thinks that is FAT32)

Try doing this in Terminal (assuming your partition is #3):

sudo fdisk -e /dev/rdisk0
setpid 3
Choose 07 as the partition type
write

Extracted from this thread in the VMware bulletin board. It works!

If you've tried this please let us know.

We’ve received more reports of Boot Camp 1.4 problems with nvidia drivers in Windows. The symptoms vary. Today's readers fixed the problem by installing a non-Apple driver.

Kip Beatty reported:

I've had the same experience others have written about. I updated my Boot Camp drivers from 1.3 to 1.4, and suddenly lost the ability to display Aero. The culprit is the missing or improper Nvidia graphics drivers.

Sid Sytsma lost his second monitor’s output:

I have a similar problem: MacBook Pro 2.4gz, Vista Home Premium and Boot Camp 1.4. The MS driver will not recognize the external monitor. I've installed the Nvidia 8600 GT driver from the Nvidia website. It installs OK, the external and internal monitors both work, but the maximum resolution is 1024x758 on both monitors. I can't live with that, so I went back to the MS driver.

Edgar Kleindinst passed along a tip to prevent slow DNS networking that readers have been reporting with Mac OS X 10.4.9 and 10.4.10:

The first thing I did after getting my first Mac was to install a caching-only DNS server in OS X (10.4.10). It lets my Mac do its own DNS lookups and cache them rather than depend on other DNS servers.

I have mine set to go straight to the root DNS servers for the lookups but supposedly to play nice you should have it contact another DNS server for the initial lookup and subsequent lookups come from the local cache. I wanted all the speed I could get so I cheated.

With this set up, I have never had a delay in my DNS lookups; they are almost instantaneous. I am on Comcast.

I have the rest of the computers on the network point to my Mac for their DNS lookups so they can enjoy the speed and add their lookups to the cache too.

Peter Westley agrees with previous reports that OpenDNS helps, and added a tip:

Hi, I've gone with OpenDNS, and found much improvement. I've also enabled some web site filtering, and some URL-line keywords. For instance just type "google" in the URL slot and it takes me direct to the Google advanced-search window configured how I like it!

This week Group Logic released MassTransit 5.1, an upgrade to its cross-platform enterprise file transfer solution. The new version adds two dozen new features, including support for Active Directory-based passwords and Single Sign On (SSO) through MassTransit's web browser-based file transfer client. MassTransit accounts can be linked to Active Directory for password and account management. Active Directory-based users can now also to access the AD-based log to search for file transfer histories and file delivery information. The company referred to the Active Directory support in version 5.1 as a "first phase."

The web-based client in MassTransit 5.1 adds native support for Intel Macs and Windows Vista, and now supports the Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2.0 browsers.

Version 5.1 also improves workflow automation in the form of new Actions for the automatic moving of files in transit, as well as new Actions that trigger scripts for custom automation.

New user features include the ability to send SMS text messages to a cell phone for automatically reporting file transfer events. It is also now easier to successfully send large folders.

MassTransit 5.1 is a free update for licensed MassTransit 5.0 users who have an active support contract.

Software that can run a Mac OS X virtual machine in Windows XP is being demonstrated at VMworld in San Francisco this week. Redwood City startup Moka5 is previewing a public beta of Moka5 Engine, software that creates virtual machines and deploys them on multiple PCs over a network. The company is demonstrating Mac OS X 10.4.3, Linux, and Windows running in Windows XP SP2 at its booth at the tradeshow.

Virtualization vendors such as VMware and Parallels have said that they don't facilitate running Mac OS X in their products because it would violate Apple end user license agreement. Apple requires users to run Mac OS X on Apple hardware.

Moka5 Engine creates virtual machines on an administrators PC via a simple graphics user interface. Windows XP, Linux, and Mac OS X appear in a drop-down menu.

Moka5 Engine then copies the virtual machines to multiple users computers. Maka5 refers to its virtual machines "LivePCs" because Moka5 Engine will automatically update the virtual machines/LivePCs as the admin makes changes. Moka5 Engine also checks for modifications to the LivePC every time it is booted. If it detects software modifications, such as malware or unauthorized software installed by the user, Moka5 Engine resets the LivePC to the system's original state when the LivePC is rebooted. User documents are retained.

The LivePCs that Moka5 Engine creates run in VMware's free VMware Player on the users' PCs. (VMware Player can run virtual machines, but can't create them.) In order to run Mac OS X, the PC must have a processor that supports the SSE3 instruction set, which is common today. (The free CPU-Z utility can determine if the processor in a PC supports SSE3 instructions.)

Unlike VMware's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, the virtual machine/LivePC resides on the user's computer, not a server. This means that Moka5 Engine can be used for notebook computers.

Another notable feature of Moka5 Engine is that it is the first virtualization product to support DirectX 9, 3-D graphics acceleration. VMware Player does not have DirectX 9 support, but Moka5 Engine adds some virtualization of its own to the LivePC virtual machine. Moka5 founder and principle engineer John Whaley said that Moka5 accomplishes this by working with graphics hardware at the DirectX API level instead of at the driver level.

Whaley said that the Moka5 started as a project he worked on as a student at Stanford University.

The public beta of Moka5 Engine can be downloaded at Moka5.com.

A spokesperson for Thursby Software reported that problems with Windows Vista connecting to Mac OS X Server don't occur with the ADmitMac 3.2.2 and DAVE 6.2.2 updates from last June:

We had to update both DAVE and ADmitMac to properly work with the Vista client. I assume that the current Apple [Mac OS X Server] release is probably having similar problems to what we experienced. All of our products now support Vista.

DAVE is Thursby’s enhanced SMB file transfer and print server/client for Mac OS X. ADmitMac is Active Directory integration software for Mac OS X that also includes the file and printer sharing features of DAVE.

Our Mac OS X Server Cross-Platform Issues page contains suggested workarounds for connecting Vista to Mac OS X Server.

We've received more reports of the endless Windows boot cycle in with Boot Camp and Parallels, and each reader traces the problem back to a different event.

Christian Sidak's problem started with new RAM:

I have the same problem. It first occurred after a RAM upgrade on my MacBook Pro. The only difference is that I did not get a blue screen, it just reboots without any warning. The only solution so far is resetting the SMC and booting Windows XP SP2. It works but sometimes I have to reset the SMC [power manager] several times before running Windows successful.

Laurentiu Padeanu blames a Windows settings file:

I'm having a similar problem. Shutting down Windows unexpectedly has destroyed some allocation file info - in CMD-EXE.pf file and CHKDSK-EXE.pf, so every time I try to start Windows in Parallels tries to scan the disk, get's an error an reboot in an endless loop. I think I have to re-install Windows VM in Parallel/BootCamp.

Jordan Berliant blamed a Windows update:

I'm having the same problem since installing the recent Windows update. I'm on an Intel MacBook Pro.

Our Boot Camp Beta Tips and Reports page contains some suggests for fixing the problem.

A change in the way Windows Vista does authentication may be the cause of Vista's problems connecting to Mac OS X Servers. Readers sent us a number of different procedures (or links to procedures) to fix the problem. One reader said that the problem is caused by the "NTLMv2-based authentication Vista uses when Kerberos fails."

You can read the rest of this story here.

Please let us know if any of these solutions worked for you.

September 6

Microsoft promises better Exchange support for Entourage 2008; details to be released this month

Another case of disappearing Excel

Problem with Vista authenticating to OS X Server

Vista in Boot Camp-heat issues, brightness adjusting

Another Nvidia/Boot Camp/Vista driver problem

Another report of OpenDNS helping with OS X net slowdown

Parallels last week released Parallels Desktop 3.0 Build 5144, which the company is calling Beta 2 and a release candidate for the next version. (Build 5060 was called Beta 1. The current shipping version is Version 3.0 Build 4560.)

Parallels said that Build 5144 improves overall performance, and supports over 4 GB of RAM for multiple virtual machines. There are also a number of features that improve integration between Windows and Mac OS X.

The Coherence feature, which hides the Windows desktop, now supports the overlapping of Windows and Mac windows, and supports Mac OS X's Exposé feature. This Beta 2 version also has the ability to boot directly into Coherence mode, without first showing the Windows desktop at all. Also new is the ability to use Documents, Pictures, and Music folders as the My Documents, My Pictures, and My Music directories in Windows.

The Parallels' Transporter utility can now migrate Linux into a virtual machines on the Mac.

Daniel Milisic, the publisher of TSclientX, sent us some new information as well as clarifications of previous reader reports. TSclientX is an alternative to Microsoft's RDC, for operating Windows applications remotely from a Mac. Milisic's advice:

Glad to hear others have been able to benefit from open source software like CoRD and TSclientX.

TSclientX is essentially a bunch of apps from the Unix/Linux world -- primarily rdesktop and tsclient -- skinned-out to look as Aqua-native as you'll get out of an X11 app. (Everything that makes it up is open-source so if someone said they "paid for" TSclientX I'd suggest they're being taken for a ride.) I originally bundled this together for the Mac because RDC was so frustrating. I've got faith in the Microsoft Mac BU folks that we'll have a better RDC, but hey, for now, choice is good!

There's also a checkbox for "Attach to Console" in TSclientX. Note only RDP5 boxes (Win XP and newer) support this. Folder redirection is also supported and there's a (non TSclientX specific) note on the site on how to deal with printing.

One more thing: TSclientX is all self-contained in a .app bundle so you don't need to install rdesktop or anything else (besides Apple-supplied X11). Seemed like there was some confusion on that issue.

See our RDC Tips and Reports page for more on RDC.

Dave Hanks told us how he dealt with his slow AirPort connection:

I definitely saw slow web page load times and even repeated stalls. I ended up deleting some Airport preference files and resolved the issue. That particular solution is documented in several places on the web.

Last week, a reader fixed his problem with a 13-character WEP Password.

Readers responding to previous reports of network slowdowns in the Mac OS X 10.4.9 and 10.4.10 updates sent us additional observations and suggestions. Mark Issacs describes the issue:

I experienced it beginning with 10.4.9 and it continues unabated in 4.10. My Internet connection is an extremely fast, 7 meg/sec cable modem...

Before, most web pages literally popped onto the screen complete. No waiting. Now, when I go to a new web page there is a two or three second delay before anything happens or begins to happen.

Michele Monroe can get around the problem using Windows and Parallels:

I have also been having network connectivity problems with 10.4.10. I can hardly get any web pages to load on my MacBook Pro and instead get a message to run network diagnostics. When I do, it says nothing is wrong.

This seems to be caused by Mac OS X because I have no connectivity problems with any browser used through Windows while running Parallels Desktop.

Bob Morel sees the problem only when his Mac wakes from sleep:

I see this problem as well with 10.4.10. When I wake my computer (I never shut down, it always sleeps) it now takes up to two minutes to be able to access any web site. Once accessed, everything seems to work fine. (Verizon FIOS, dual-processor G5.)

Craig Chambers uses OpenDNS to help:

I have been having problems with OS 10.4.9 and 10.4.10 and DNS. I have noticed that my Macs seem to stall while surfing websites during the DNS lookup. Once the site has been resolved, the subsequent loading of other pages in that domain happens much faster (unless those pages have things like ads that need to be resolved from other domains). I tried moving from a Netgear to a D-Link router and still had the same results.

Moving to OpenDNS has helped a lot. I still experience some slowdowns, but these may just be busy times on Comcast's network. I have experienced this on both my laptop and my G5 desktop, both connected wirelessly with excellent signal strength.

The problem occurs when I am using a standard consumer router at my house. I do remember that if I plugged my computers directly into the cable modem the speed improved greatly. I also don't seem to have the same problems when I take my laptop to the office Ethernet (not wireless) where we have our Windows 2003 Server doing our DNS.

This leads me to believe that it may be some combination of my Mac and the DNS handling of the routers. But why using OpenDNS would help has me baffled.

Chambers apparently hasn't tried the suggestions we've previously posted for fixing this problem for AirPort Connections.

If you're a Boot Camp user who'd rather be booted up into the Mac side, check out FlyakiteOSX, a free “transformation pack” for Windows XP that turns XP in a Mac OS X near-look-alike, even including a working Dock. PC World Downloads describes FlyakiteOSX:

FlyakiteOSX…goes beyond skinning to transform your entire XP interface into a near-perfect replica of Mac OS X. FlyakiteOSX converts sounds, cursors, title bars, icons, startup and log-in screens, and more. It even has an OS X-like dock for launching and managing running applications.

In some of the screen shots at the FlyakiteOSX web site, we noticed that it moved the XP Taskbar to the top of the screen, gave it a Mac-like color, and changed to start button to an Apple icon. Even the boot screen has an Apple icon.

We’ve added FlyakyteOSX to User Interface Solutions page.

(Thanks to Kirk Rheinlander for the tip.)

Randy Whitney edited the Registry on a Windows XP box to enable his Mac OS X 10.4.10 box access SMB shared folders and SMB printers over a network. He sent us his procedure:

My problem was the inability to print to and mount share drives on my MacBook from my XP box (XP Pro - Media Center Edition 2005). I could see the printers and even save them, but printing would fail. I could see the share drives, but the mount would fail.

After trying numerous options on the Mac, including editing /etc/smb.conf, using smb://user:pwd@..., setting smbpasswd, verifying the encryption options on the XP box I continued to see the same results: the ability to see the resources but not use them.

I decided to troubleshoot from the PC instead. I opened the Event Viewer from the Admin Tools menu under Control Panel. When I opened the "System" report, I noticed an error message with a source of Srv with Event ID of 2011 and user of N/A that seemed to coincide with my attempts to mount the share on my Mac. I did a click through to the Microsoft site and it identified a registry key of IRPStackSize that needed to be modified. I did a regedit search and did not find the key, so after re-reading the Microsoft Help file and assisted with a Google search which incorrectly pointed me at a Symantec Virus Checker as the Source app, I added the Key with the suggested decimal value of 15 then rebooted.

On reboot, I tried to mount the share drive again, noting that the error message once again appeared. After another google search for "IRPStackSize" I found that you can set the value as high as 50, so I gave it a shot, although setting it to decimal 48 (hex 30) rather than 50. After reboot of XP box, viola! Shares mounted and Printers printed!

To summarize my solution:

"regedit" on the XP box

search for (or click down to):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer \Parameters\

look for key "IRPStackSize" If it exists, change the value to hex 30 or decimal 48 (same value)

If it doesn't exist, right-click and add New "DWORD Value", type IRPStackSize and enter hex 30/decimal 48 as previous. NOTE: Keys are CASE SENSITIVE!

Perhaps this solution can help others not helped by the other suggested fixes. Fortunately for me, it only took me 2.5 *frustrating* evenings to troubleshoot this!

If you've tried this please let us know what you think of it.

Miguel Chan sent us a link that he used to get his Macs to authenticate to VMware virtual servers:

We were having problems with our Mac OS X 10.4 machines connecting to all of our VMware ESX virtual servers running Windows 2003. The Kerberos token would not work. We had to destroy the token then authenticate via NTLM.

We then used information we found at MacOSXHints.com.

And all works now. We did the adjustments on all of our ESX based servers and all is working now. Thought others may benefit from this.

Luke Bai sent us his impressions of VMware Fusion 1.0. He says it is faster to run Windows applications in Fusion than to run PowerPC applications (non-Universal) in Mac OS X:

I find it smoother to run Windows XP Pro in full-screen mode rather than with Unity or in a window. Office 2007 is working like charm, flying speed. It actually puts Office 2004 Mac to shame, which runs under Rosetta emulation, which sucks a lot of memory and CPU, and is unbelievably slow.

I also deleted all my non-universal Mac programs, such as Dreamweaver 8 and Flash 8, and installed the native Windows editions. They work far better than Mac non-universal editions. I don't have budget yet to upgrade to CS3. I also run Microsoft OneNote, a Windows program I've relied on and used on PC for years.

What I would love to do is to get an OS X theme for XP, so the programs blend better with my desktop environment.

I would love to upgrade to 2G RAM, then allocate 1G to Windows XP, to make the VMWare Fusion experience even smoother. At moment, as soon as I start VMware, all my other Mac OS X programs start to struggle.

Last word: don't forget about Ubuntu. Mac aficionados now can take advantage of VMware to experience the true power of Ubuntu. I installed it two days ago; it is another mind opening experience.

My iMac has 1 GB of RAM, 250 GB external hard drive on USB 2.0, Intel 950 GMA graphics card. I am running Windows XP Pro with 512M of RAM and a 20 GB virtual machine image (on external hard driver).

Steven Jones responded to Monday's report of the Boot Camp 1.4 update disabling the Nvidia driver. He got around that, but had some other problems as well:

I installed Boot Camp 1.4 and lost my Nvidia driver. I lost the Windows Vista Aero interface. And to top it off, I had to re-validate Windows through the phone due to the hardware change. I re-downloaded the driver from Nvidia and all is well.

I have an iMac 24-inch running Windows Vista Premium and Mac OS 10.4.10.

Craig Brozinsky told us that "Microsoft Office 2004 For Mac Update 11.3.6 deleted Excel from my computer." This is a problem that readers previously reported with the 11.3.5 update. If you've seen this problem please let us know.

Yesterday, Softhing released Entourage Email Archive X 3.5.0, an update to its Mac OS X software for creating Spotlight-searchable archives of email and attachments received or sent using Microsoft Entourage. The major new feature is that the new version now supports Exchange accounts. Dialogs and internal messages have also been improved, and there are many internal optimizations in the new version, according to Softhing.

Microsoft launches Office Mac-themed Web 2.0 site

Microsoft has released Virtual PC 7.0.3, the first update in over two years for the emulator/virtual machine software for PowerPC Macs. Microsoft describes the update as one that “fixes a vulnerability that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code.”

Virtual PC 7 is still the best way to run Windows on a PowerPC Mac. A year ago, Microsoft announced that it would not port Virtual PC to the Intel Mac platform. Microsoft released the Virtual PC 7.0.2 in June of 2005.

(Thanks to Paul Steunebrink for the tip.)

OnMac.net has a blog that describes how to use Boot Camp to create a triple-boot Mac with three hard drive partitions to boot from Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. The post is a little old, describing using Boot Camp 1.1. (The current version is 1.4.)

Adrià Bosch Bou has this problem with Boot Camp 1.4:

I’ve got a brand-new MacBook Pro. I installed Windows Vista Home Premium using Boot Camp Beta 1.3, and it was fine. However, after installing Boot Camp 1.4, Windows doesn’t recognize the Nvidia 8600 GT anymore (it thinks it’s a standard VGA chip), dxdiag.exe crashes, I cannot use Aero, etc.

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

We’ve had previous reports of the Mac OS X 10.4.10 upgrade slowing web browsing, but Tim Allison said the upgraded disabled it. He suspects his router, but backgrading fixed it:

When I updated to 10.4.10 on a 2.0 GHz MacBook Pro Core Duo, I was no longer able to browse the web in any browser (Safari, Firefox, nor Camino). However, I was able to send/receive e-Mail and was able to ping IP addresses and Internet domain names without fail. This was on my own network, using a Netgear Wireless WGT624v3 router.

I then went to another location that was using an Apple Airport Base Station, and was able to surf the web, and everything else just fine well as.

My suspicion is that the problem is with third-party routers (Netgear in particular). I called Netgear's tech support, but their support was not able to help. A quick search of the Apple support website didn't provide any help.

I tried reinstalling as a clean install and tried adjusting the security settings on my router to no avail. Ultimately, I chose to downgrade to 10.4.9.

If you've seen this issue please let us know.

Alexander Gibson has a theory about the network slowdown that some readers are reporting. Unlike other readers, his problems start with the OS X 10.4.9, not 10.4.10:

I experienced a net slowdown starting with the 10.4.9 upgrade. I'm sure Apple is working on it because things are better with the 10.4.10 upgrade. The problem seems to be in the DNS communication. Something was done to improve security which messed-up the DNS lookup.

Think this is a DNS issue? Drop us a note.

Centrify has shipped DirectControl 3.0.7, an update to the software for Active Directory integration and management of non-Microsoft clients and servers. The new version improves group policy support for Mac OS X adds group policies and support for additional Unix and Linux versions.

Administrators can now control Mac OS X desktop login and logout scripts with Group Policy. The company said the new version will also improve mobile user configuration management capabilities. DirectControl 3.0.7 also improves integration with Apple Remote Desktop Administrator as well as Workgroup Manager, according to Centrify.

Centrify has added new group policies for all of the supported platforms, including policies to centrally configure the security settings of OpenSSH. For Windows clients, the new DirectControl will add Group Policies for the PuTTY open source SSH.

The company said that the version adds Active Directory support for 25 addition more flavors and version numbers of UNIX and Linux, bringing the number to over 100. Newly support OS’s include Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server 6.06 and 7.04, Oracle Enterprise Linux 4, and OpenSUSE 10.1 and 10.2.

Jeffrey Sheldon had to add some folders to Exchange 2007 Server in order to get Entourage users accounts established on an Active Directory network:

I will gladly share this headache that occurred to our organization.

Exchange Admin created a new Exchange 2007 with Rollup 3 applied to a new server. Active Directory users assigned to that Exchange 2007 Server were unable to establish their accounts via Microsoft Entourage 11.3.6. Any combination of trying to enter the account information would result in very bland, useless generic errors:

"The action could not be completed. HTTP error. The resource is not found" and "The action could not be completed. An unknown error (170) occurred..."

New MacWindows VirtualBox page

Reader notes VirtualBox Beta 2 lack of audio/video I/O

Seppo Helle Paimio in Finland is looking for a fix to a problem where Windows won’t run properly in Boot Camp with three hard drives in a Mac Pro:

I have a Mac Pro, OS X 10.4.10. Disk configuration so far: Boot disk 160 GB, journaled HFS+; second internal disk 250 GB with a Mac partition which is a copy of the boot disk (maintained with SuperDuper) and a Windows XP partition made with Boot Camp Assistant. Win XP (Home edition) works fine with this configuration.

Now I wanted to add a third disk for Mac use only. Got a Samsung 250 G drive, put it in into the third internal slot, and formatted with the Disk Utility (again journaled HFS+). In OS X it works perfectly, I moved data there and can use it.

But Win XP gets crazy. Booting takes a lot of time and many system management functions seem not to work. I can open Device Manager and in there see all three drives listed, but opening properties (and many other functions) does not work. If I try to disable the problem drive nothing happens. Task manager says the Device Manager does not respond.

I had Boot Camp version 1.3 when I first added the drive. Upgrading to 1.4 did not help with this one (but did help getting the new Apple Keyboard to work with XP).

Looks like XP does not understand the new drive and for some reason tends to stop working. If I take the new drive out and reboot, XP works again. I believe there should be a way to disable the new drive the same way as the boot drive - XP does not care about it, and it's a similar kind of device.

If you have a suggestion please let us know.

A couple of readers wrote with impressions of boot Camp Beta version 1.4. Cal sees an improvement over version 1.3:

Works great - simply ran the setup.exe from Vista Ultimate (1.3 installed). I now have iSight working and no issues (except it does run hot, but frankly it does in OS X). This is a brand new 15-inch MacBook Pro,

Osoliman reports that backlighting still doesn’t work:

Still no keyboard backlighting with Boot Camp 1.4 on a 15" Core Duo 1.7 GHz MacBook Pro.